A cookie is a baked or cooked food that is small, flat and sweet. It usually contains flour, sugar and some type of oil or fat. It may include other ingredients such as raisins, oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

A snack is a small service of food and generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.

A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company that is owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company, parent, or holding company. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a government or state-owned enterprise. In some cases, particularly in the music and book publishing industries, subsidiaries are referred to as imprints.

Chips Ahoy! is a brand of cookie, baked and marketed by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Mondelēz International, that debuted in 1963. It is widely sold in the United States, Latin America, South Africa, Canada, Latvia, Spain, Portugal, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Mauritius, United Kingdom, Italy and many more regions. It is marketed in varieties of 1 ounce (28 g) mini-sized cookie packages to around 48 ounces (1,400 g) packages of standard-sized cookies. It is the third best-selling cookie in the United States after Oreo, also a Nabisco-branded cookie, with an average of US$619.4 million in sales per year. By the 1980s, several different varieties of the cookie snack were being baked and shipped to grocery stores: chewy, sprinkled, and striped. In Indonesia, Chips Ahoy! was relaunched in September 2015 after the product was discontinued in that country in the early 2010s.

Belvita, sometimes stylized as belVita or BelVita, is a brand of breakfast biscuit sold originally by Kraft Foods and now by Mondelēz International, a U.S. company created from the global snacking and food brands of Kraft Foods. The biscuits were first marketed in Europe, and were introduced to the United States market in 2012.

Oreo is a brand of cookie usually consisting of two chocolate wafers with a sweet crème filling, marketed as "Chocolate Sandwich Cookie". Introduced in 1912, Oreo is the bestselling cookie in the United States. As of 2018, the version sold in the U.S. is made by the Nabisco division of Mondelez International.

All Nabisco cookie or cracker products are branded Christie in Canada. Prior to the Post Cereals merger, the cereal division kept the Nabisco name in Canada. The proof of purchase on their products is marketed as a "brand seal". The Nabisco name became redundant in Canada after Kraft took over.

William Mellis Christie is the namesake for the Canadian Mr. Christie brand of cookies and biscuits.

Proof of purchase is often required for sales promotions and manufacturer rebates as evidence that the customer purchased the product. When multiple purchases are required to redeem these rewards, it is referred to as a premium incentive or collector mechanic.

The Home Insurance Building was a skyscraper in Chicago, United States, designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1884, for the Home Insurance Company in New York. Completed a year later, the building is generally noted as the first tall building to be supported both inside and outside by a fireproof structural steel and metal frame, which included reinforced concrete.

The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district in the downtown area of the city. It is home to Chicago's commercial core, City Hall, and the seat of Cook County. Bounded on the north and west by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road, it is the second largest commercial business district in the United States after Midtown Manhattan and contains the headquarters of many locally and globally important businesses as well as many of Chicago's most famous attractions.

Logo

The trademarked face of an Oreo cookieNewspaper ad for the Uneeda biscuits, from 1919: The Nabisco "antenna" trademark can be seen behind the product.

Nabisco's trademark, a diagonal ellipse with a series of antenna-like lines protruding from the top ("Orb and Cross" or Globus cruciger), forms the base of its logo and can be seen imprinted on Oreo cookies in addition to Nabisco product boxes and literature.[4] It has been claimed in company promotional material to be an early European symbol for quality. It may be derived from a medieval Italian printer's mark that represented "'the triumph of the moral and spiritual over the evil and the material'",[5], "Christ's redemption of the world"[6], or to represent the act of winnowing, separating grain from chaff.[citation needed]

The globus cruciger, also known as "the orb and cross", is an orb surmounted by a cross. It has been a Christian symbol of authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with a sceptre as royal regalia.

A logo is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordmark.

Wind winnowing is an agricultural method developed by ancient cultures for separating grain from chaff. It is also used to remove hay and chaff or other pests from stored grain. Threshing, the loosening of grain or seeds from the husks and straw, is the step in the chaff-removal process that comes before winnowing.

History

Company timeline

In 1792, Pearson & Sons Bakery opened in Massachusetts. They made a biscuit called pilot bread for consumption on long sea voyages. Josiah Bent coined the term "cracker" for a crunchy biscuit they produced in 1801. In 1889, William Moore acquired Pearson & Sons Bakery, Josiah Bent Bakery, and six other bakeries to start the New York Biscuit Company.

The G.H. Bent Company, better known as Bent's Cookie Factory, is a business specializing in cookies that has been operating in Milton, Massachusetts, since 1801. Bent's also sells a number of other baked goods, including their George and Martha Washington pies. In addition, Bent's has expanded its menu to include a variety of sandwiches named after Milton-based themes.

Adolphus Green (1843–1917)[7][8] started the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company in 1890 after acquiring 40 different bakeries. William Moore, Adolphus Green, and John G. Zeller (Richmond Steam Bakery) merged in 1898 to form the National Biscuit Company. Adolphus Green was named president.

The name Nabisco was first used as part of a name for a sugar wafer in 1901. John G. Zeller was president of National Biscuit Company from 1923–1931. Nabisco celebrated its golden anniversary in 1948. By 1971, Nabisco had become the corporate name. In 1981, Nabisco merged with Standard Brands to form Nabisco Brands, which then merged with R.J. Reynolds in 1985 to form RJR Nabisco.

In 2000, Philip Morris Companies Inc. acquired Nabisco and merged it with Kraft Foods, one of the largest mergers in the food industry. In 2011, Kraft Foods announced it was splitting into a grocery company and a snack food company. Nabisco became part of the snack-food business, which took the name Mondelēz International.[9]

Origins

Nabisco dates its founding to 1898,[10] a decade when the bakery business underwent a major consolidation. Early in the decade, bakeries throughout the country were consolidated regionally, into companies such as Chicago's American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company (which was formed from 40 Midwestern bakeries in 1830), the New York Biscuit Company (consisting of seven eastern bakeries), and the United States Baking Company. In 1898, the National Biscuit Company was formed from the combination of those three. The merger resulted in a company with 114 bakeries across the US and headquartered in New York City. The word "biscuit" is a traditional term for what are now termed "cookies" and "crackers" in American English, though British English retains "biscuit" to refer to these baked goods.

Key to the founding of Nabisco was Pittsburgh baking mogul Sylvester S. Marvin. Marvin arrived in Pittsburgh in 1863 and established himself in the cracker business, founding S. S. Marvin Co. Its products included crackers, cakes, and breads. Marvin was called the Edison of manufacturing for his innovations in the bakery business. By 1888, it was the largest in the US, and the centerpiece of the National Biscuit Company. Marvin was also a member of the elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club of Johnstown Flood fame. The F. A. Kennedy Steam Bakery in Boston, known for inventing Fig Newtons was one of the very first acquisitions made by Nabisco, joining the company in 1898. Also vital to the founding of NABISCO were John and Emily Malloy. The couple started a bakery in a subway in Chicago and created the Lorna Doone. Upon the bakery’s closing, the recipe for the first NABISCO cookie, the Lorna Doone, was purchased. [11]

Packaging breakthrough

After the consolidation, the president of Nabisco, Adolphus Green, asked Frank Peters to create a package to distribute fresher products. This paved its way for In-Er Seal package, whose logo is a prototype for the "Nabisco Thing", an animated character created in 1995 to sell its products to kids. The In-Er Seal package is a system of inter-folded wax paper and cardboard to "seal in the freshness" of the product. At the beginning of his presidency, Green decided the National Biscuit Company, often shortened to NBC, needed a new idea that grabbed the public's attention. He got it when his employees created a new cracker that was flakier and lighter than any of their competitors' versions.

A son of Robert Gair, the package manufacturer, said, "You need a name," and from this sentence came the name Uneeda.[12] The Uneeda biscuit looked promising, but Green had to make sure it got to customers fresh, so it was the first to use the In-Er Seal package in 1898.[13] Until then, crackers were sold unbranded and packed loosely in barrels. Mothers would give their sons a paper bag and ask them to run to the store and get the bag filled with crackers. National Biscuit Company used this as part of Uneeda Biscuit advertising symbol, which depicts a boy carrying a pack of Uneeda Biscuit in the rain. In 2009 (after over 110 years), Nabisco discontinued the Uneeda biscuit, concerned that the product was not sufficiently profitable.

20th century

The first use of "Nabisco" was in a cracker brand first produced by National Biscuit Company in 1901.[14] The firm later introduced—either through development or acquisition— Fig Newtons, Nabisco Wafers (early 1900s, later sold in one form as Biscos, a sugar wafer originally containing a variety of flavored fillings), Anola Wafers (early 1900s, later discontinued; a chocolate wafer with chocolate filling), Barnum's Animal Crackers (1902), Cameos (1910), Lorna Doones (1912; shortbread), Oreos (1912),[10] and Famous Chocolate Wafers (1924; a thin wafer without filling).

In 1924, the National Biscuit Company introduced a snack in a sealed packet called the Peanut Sandwich Packet. They soon added a second, the Sorbetto Sandwich Packet. These allowed salesmen to sell to soda fountains, road stands, milk bars, lunch rooms, and news stands. Sales increased, and in 1928, the company started to use the name NAB. The term Nabs today is used to generically mean any type of snack crackers, most commonly in the southern US.[15]

During WWII, the company manufactured K-rations for US troops. The first use of the red triangular logo was in 1952. The company name was changed to Nabisco in 1971.

Nutter Butter – a peanut-shaped sandwich cookie with a peanut butter filling,[17] which was introduced to the public in 1969. The distinctive peanut shape and texture was designed by William A. Turnier,[18] who also created the design for Nabisco's Oreo cookie. Nabisco launched a convenience store pack of the Nutter Butter brand—known as Nutter Butter Bites—featuring cookies that are round in profile, lacking the distinctive peanut shape but retaining the same texture. However, the vast majority of the Nutter Butter cookies sold are of the original peanut shape. A 2004 estimate stated that over 34 million pounds of the cookie are sold annually, and that more than 1 billion are consumed annually.[19]

The National Biscuit Company acquired the Shredded Wheat Company, maker of Triscuit and Shredded Wheatcereal, and Christie, Brown & Company of Toronto in 1928, but all of the Nabisco cookie and cracker products in Canada still use the name Christie. It also acquired F.H. Bennett Company, maker of Milk-Bone dog biscuits, in 1931. When Kraft bought Nabisco, it included Christie.

R. J. Reynolds merger

In 1985, Nabisco was bought by R.J. Reynolds, forming RJR Nabisco. After three years of mixed results, the company became one of the hotspots in the 1980s leveraged buyout mania. The company was in auction with two bidders: F. Ross Johnson, the company's president and CEO, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a private equity partnership.

Subsequent acquisitions and divestitures

In 1989 RJR Nabisco Inc. sold its Chun King foods division to Yeo Hiap Seng Limited and Fullerton Holdings Pte. Ltd for $52 million to reduce its debt from its $24.5 billion buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.[20]

In December 1989 RJR Nabisco sold its Del Monte canned fruits and vegetables business in South America to Polly Peck International PLC.[21] One year later, in 1990 RJR Nabisco sold Curtiss Candy, which owned the Baby Ruth and Butterfinger brands, to Nestle.[22] RJR also sold LU, Belin and other European biscuit brands to Groupe Danone, only reunited in 2007 after Nabisco's present parent, Kraft Foods, bought Danone's biscuit operations for EUR 5.3 billion.[23]

In 1994 RJR sold its breakfast cereal business (primarily the Shredded Wheat franchise) to Kraft Foods and the international licenses to General Mills, which later became part of the Cereal Partners Worldwide joint venture with Nestle.[24] Also in 1994, RJR acquired Knox Gelatin and integrated the Shredded Wheat franchise into the Post Foods portfolio.[25] Post continues to sell the product today. In 1995 Nestle agreed to buy the Ortega Mexican foods business from Nabisco Inc.[26] That same year, RJR-Nabisco also acquired the North American margarine and table spreads business of Kraft foods. This purchase included Parkay, Touch of Butter and Chiffon.[27]

In 1998 Nabisco Holdings announced its sale of its margarine and egg substitute business to ConAgra of Omaha. In 1997 the brands of Fleishmann's, Blue Bonnet and Parkay had sales of $480 million.[28] It also sold its College Inn broth brand to HJ Heinz[29] and its Venezuelan Del Monte operations to Del Monte Foods.[30]

In 1999 RJR Nabisco's food and tobacco empire fell apart when they sold its international tobacco division to Japan Tobacco for $7.8 billion.[31]

The Altria Group (formerly Phillip Morris)[32] acquired Nabisco (sans Bubble Yum which was sold to Hershey) in 2000 for about $19.2 billion. Philip Morris then combined Nabisco with Kraft.[33] That acquisition was approved by the Federal Trade Commission subject to the divestiture of products in five areas: three Jell-O and Royal brands types of products (dry-mix gelatin dessert, dry-mix pudding, no-bake desserts), intense mints (such as Altoids), and baking powder. Kraft Foods, at the time also a subsidiary of Altria, merged with Nabisco.[34]

In 2006 Nabisco sold its Milk-Bone pet snacks to Del Monte Foods Co. for $580 million.[35]

Kraft Foods was spun off from Altria, taking its Nabisco subsidiary with it, in 2007.[36] In January 2007 Cream of Wheat was sold to B&G Foods.[37]

Legal battles

In 1997, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus[38] became concerned with an ad campaign for Planters Deluxe Mixed Nuts. The initial commercial featured a man and monkey deserted on an island. They discover a crate of Planters peanuts and rejoice in the peanuts' positive health facts.

The company's A1 Steak Sauce was the subject of a legal battle against a venue called Arnie's Deli in 1991. The delicatessen was selling and using a homemade sauce called "A2 Sauce." The verdict favored Nabisco.

Related Research Articles

A cracker is a flat, dry baked food typically made with flour. In UK English, crackers are sometimes called water biscuits, savoury biscuits or biscuits. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.

Ritz Crackers are a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. Outside the United States, the Ritz Cracker brand is made by a subsidiary of Mondelēz International. They are circular, salted lightly on one side, and have a small scalloped edge. A single serving contains 79 calories, 1 gram of protein and 4 grams of fat, or 70 calories and 2.5 grams of fat for the whole-wheat variety.

The Keebler Company is the second largest cookie and cracker manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks. Keebler has marketed its brands such as Cheez-It, Chips Deluxe, Club Crackers, E.L. Fudge Cookies, Famous Amos, Fudge Shoppe Cookies, Murray cookies, Austin, Plantation, Vienna Fingers, Town House Crackers, Wheatables, Sandie's Shortbread, Chachos and Zesta Crackers, among others. The Keebler slogans are "Uncommonly Good" and "a little elfin magic goes a long way". Tom Shutter and Leo Burnett wrote the familiar jingle.

Sunshine Biscuits was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, whose brand still appears today on a few products, was purchased by Keebler Company in 1996 which was subsequently purchased by Kellogg Company in 2000. Around that time, Sunshine Biscuits was headquartered in Elmhurst, Illinois, the same town in which Keebler was located until 2001.

Lance is an American brand of snack foods owned by the Snyder's-Lance company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2018, Snyder's-Lance is owned by Campbell's.

A saltine or soda cracker is a thin, usually square cracker made from white flour, yeast, and baking soda, with most varieties lightly sprinkled with coarse salt. It has perforations over its surface, as well as a distinctively dry and crisp texture.

An animal cracker is a particular type of small cracker/cookie, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but darker chocolate-flavored and colorful frosted varieties are also sold. Although animal crackers are made with a layered dough like crackers, they tend to be sweet in flavor, but still technically a cracker and not a cookie.

Kraft Foods Inc. was an American multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oreo, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, and Tang. Forty of its brands were at least a century old.

Arnott's Biscuits Limited is Australia's largest producer of biscuits and the second-largest supplier of snack food. It is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company of the United States.

Nilla is a brand name owned by Nabisco that is most closely associated with its line of vanilla-flavored, wafer-style cookies. The name is a shortened version of vanilla, the flavor profile common to all Nilla-branded products. Originally sold as Nabisco Vanilla Wafers, the product's name was changed in 1967 to the abbreviated form Nilla Wafer.

Vienna Fingers is a brand of cookie made by the Keebler Company, a division of Kellogg's. They consist of a sandwich of vanilla flavored outer crust filled with vanilla cream flavored filling. Akin to an Oreo, the surface is textured and embossed with the product name, but Vienna Fingers have a round-ended 'finger' shape. They come in a red and yellow accented rectangular package with the words "Vienna Fingers" in white lettering. Nabisco's Cameo is similar.

Crown Pilot was a brand of cracker popular in much of New England in the United States. It was manufactured by Nabisco until it was discontinued in the first quarter of 2008. The cracker was unsalted, and closely related to the food "hardtack". The crackers were an important ingredient in historical recipes of clam chowder and a staple in many New England pantries.

Ralcorp Holdings is a manufacturer of various food products, including breakfast cereal, cookies, crackers, chocolate, snack foods, mayonnaise, pasta, and peanut butter. The company is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The majority of the items Ralcorp makes are private-label, store-brand products. It has over 9,000 employees. Ralcorp has its headquarters in the Bank of America Plaza in downtown St. Louis.

Mondelēz International, Inc., is an American multinational confectionery, food, and beverage company based in Illinois which employs about 83,000 people around the world. It consists of the global snack and food brands of Kraft Foods Inc. after the October 2012 spin-off of its North American grocery-foods products. The Mondelez name, adopted in 2012, was suggested by Kraft Foods employees and is derived from the Latin word mundus ("world") and delez, a fanciful modification of the word "delicious".

The cheese cracker is a type of cracker prepared using cheese as a main ingredient. Additional common cracker ingredients are typically used, such as grain, flour, shortening, leavening, salt and various seasonings. The ingredients are formed into a dough, and the individual crackers are then prepared. Some cheese crackers are prepared using fermented dough. Cheese crackers are typically baked. Another method of preparing cheese crackers involves placing cheese atop warm crackers. Cheese crackers have been described as a "high-calorie snack", which is due to a higher fat content compared to other types of crackers.